AIBAK/PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): Samangan Governor Khairullah Anosh was among five people wounded in a roadside bombing on Saturday morning, officials said.
One civilian was killed and the provincial police chief for northern Baghlan province escaped unhurt in a similar attack.
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Akram Behzad, the Samangan police head, told Pajhwok Afghan News two bodyguards of the governor and as many school students were among the injured.
The incident took place when the governor was on the way from home to office in Aibak, the provincial capital, Behzad said. Anosh received bomb shards in his head and legs, but he is in stable condition.
Public Health Director Dr. Abdul Hameed confirmed receiving five wounded people, including the governor, and said they were under medical treatment.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the bombing and said the governor had been wounded along with four bodyguards.
Meanwhile, Baghlan police chief Asadullah Sherzad survived but a civilian was killed in a similar attack. The bomb hit Sherzad’s armoured vehicle close to the police headquarters in Pul-i-Khumri, the provincial capital, said police spokesman Javed Baidar.
Bismillah, a resident of the area, said that the explosion was so heavy as it threw shards of vehicle windscreens into their home.
Sherzad’s vehicle and eight cars were damaged in the explosion that also smashed windowpanes in nearby homes, a Pajhwok correspondent reported from the scene.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said two of Sherzad’s bodyguards were killed. However, he was unaware about Sherzad's fate.